Edmonton Journal from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada • 28

11 D2 77)e Edmonton Jouriiul, Wednesday, January 17, 1998 D3 announce Ice committed to minor hockey new league plans All-Star Football would compete with NFL I 1 John Short Sports Comment It's entirely possible the happiest people in the room when the new head coach of the Edmonton Ice was Introduced were Bill Bonner and Wi If Brooks, two Edmonto-nians who have devoted much of their lives to minor hockey, By the time Dave Siciliano, the new bench boss, had worked his way through several dozen of the obligatory first-day handshakes, Bonner and Brooks the Edmonton Minor Hockey Association president and a dedicated veteran volunteer both closing in on the Friday opening of Minor Hockey Week were deep in conversation with Ice president Ed Chynoweth. "We'll do anything we can to work with you and your people," Chynoweth said. As he spoke, he must have known that major junior operators all over this land have given lip service, and little more, to the developmental aspects of the sport that defines Canada. What makes him different? "In my years as president of the Western Hockey League, I had plenty of opportunity to see firsthand how many players come out of minor ranks with skill and discipline. I was grateful, of course, and I still am." The background of his interest is understandably different, but Siciliano made it clear he shares the commitment to minor hockey expressed at such length by his boss.

"The Thunder Bay system provided almost all of the players I was coaching in the United States (Junior) League," where he won three coach-of-the-year titles and the team won numerous league and playoff championships. "A lot of teaching was required, because we didn't have much opportunity to import polished players, but the discipline and interest our players brought to the arena were first developed as youngsters playing for a lot of volunteer coaches" who don't plan to make a career of hockey. While Siciliano was making his rounds of the news conference and breaking new ground with Ice talent scouts Bob Tory and Roy Sta-siuk, Chynoweth volunteered the new head coach, if required or requested, to conduct coaching and instructional sessions after Siciliano arrives for good, with his family, late this summer. "Of course I'd be available for things like that," Siciliano said. "Why not? There's nothing to say junior coaches can't learn from The name's everything new mode, Friday's Two Canucks in boxing Hall Of Famo Journal News Services Tommy Burns of Hanover.

and Jack Dclnney of St. France du Lac, were anions 13 box era named as Inductees Into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in C'anastota, N.Y., on Tuesday, Hums won the heavyweight title in the first Canadian to take that belt. At five-foot seven. he was also the shortest man to hold the title. Delaney held the light-heavy weight championship in 1920 27.

He had one title fight, which he lost, in a career spanning 1919- 1932. He had a career record of 79 11 with 45 knockouts. He was born in 19(H) and died in 1948. Complete list of inductcesI)4 A scheduled 12-round bout between former world boxing champion Hector Camacho and Sal Lopez was declared a technical draw in Fort Lauderdale, Fla Tuesday after Camacho suffered a deep cut due to an accidental butt in the second round. The promoter for British heavyweight Lennox Lewis said he plans to seek $50 million in damages from the World Boxing Council for sanctioning Mike Tyson's championship fight against Frank Bruno.

Promoter Panos Eliades maintains the WBC reneged on an agreement making Lewis the mandatory challenger for the title, which Bruno won from Oliver McCall in September. Interleague play gaining momentum Interleague play appeared to be gaining support as baseball owrners started arriving for the winter meetings in Los Angeles. Philadelphia Phillies Bill Giles had proposed a schedule in which teams would each play 15-16 interleague games that count in the standings starting in 1997. Ted Williams, who recently had a $2.3 billion US tunnel under Boston Harbor named for him, has been named star of the half century by the San Diego Hall of Champions. Williams was a star at San Diego's Hoover High and then the Padres of the Pacific Coast League during the 1936 and '37 seasons.

And Twenty-six-year-old Swiss Michael Von Gruenigen strengthened his domination of the giant slalom discipline with a spectacular victory in Adelboden, Switzerland. It was his fourth victory of the season and set him clearly on target for the giant slalom title. Thomas Grandi of Banff was 21st in 2:36.08. Williams-Renault driver Jacques Villeneuve of Iberville, put in 30 laps during a test session and posted the best time at one minute 22.10 seconds on the 4.36-kilometre Estoril track in Portugal. The honors keep piling up for Damon Stoudamire of the Toronto Raptors while Bryant (Big Country) Reeves of the Vancouver Grizzlies is starting to turn some heads.

Both expansion team players were selected Tuesday to play in the NBA's rookie all-star game Feb. 10 in San Antonio, Tex. Hailed as a hero for guiding the Phoenix Suns to the NBA finals three years ago, but labeled a loser when his team of walking wounded fell below .500, coach Paul Westphal was fired. German tax authorities will drop their investigation of Steffi Graf if the tennis star pays a fine of approximately $4.7 million Cdn, a television report said Tuesday. Canadian harness racing star Herve Filion was arraigned Tuesday on upgraded criminal charges stemming from allega tions that he and three other drivers were involved in a race-fix ing scheme at Yonkers Raceway.

Cincinnati Bengals defen sive lineman Dan Wilkinson was convicted of hitting his pregnant girlfriend and given a suspended six-month jail sentence. Art Modell asked his fellow NFL owners to approve the Browns' move to Baltimore, capping a day in which tearful Cleveland fans arrived by the busload to demand their team remain where it has been for 50 years. Journal News Services Ex-NFL quarterbacks Joe Kapp and Craig Morton announced plans Tuesday for a new football league they said would begin play next September. The enterprise called All Star Football expects to have 16 franchises playing games on Sundays in direct competition with the NFL. The World Football League and United States Football League did not compete against the NFL, with a full fall to -winter schedule, yet both failed.

The league has plans for teams in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Hartford, Miami, Orlando, Memphis, Houston, San Jose, Cleveland, Columbus, Milwaukee, El Paso, and Mexico City. Many of the cities have also been targeted by the CFL. News of the proposed new league had not reached the ears of the governors, who were all on the phone as late as last week. A spokesman in Memphis, where the defunct Mad Dogs still have an office, said the group has the rights to the stadium, the Liberty Bowl, but has not been approached about a lease. Houston has been earmarked as a future home for Baltimore Stallions owner Jim Speros.

"How can you succeed playing football in the summer?" asked Kapp, a former CFL player and GM. "We're a moving pocket. We'll Courier wins ugly match STEVE WILSTEIN The Associated Press Melbourne Tempers flared when Jim Courier and Jeff Tarango met today at the Australian Open, an ugly American match of umpire baiting and racket throwing. Both players' antics spiced a baseline confrontation Courier finally won with a run of nine straight games that brought him back from 1-4 down in the third set to a 7-5, 6-7 (7-2), 64, 6-3 victory. Courier, twice champion of the Australian, vented his frustration by flinging his racket and cursing to the sky.

Tarango expressed his displeasure with line calls by keeping up a running argument with the umpire. Complete resultsD5 No such commotion accompanied Monica Seles' 6-1, 6-1 romp over Katarina Studenikova of Slovakia, a 51-minute victory that gave Seles a 23-0 mark in Australian Opens as she pursues her fourth title. Seles had been worried that the groin pull that hurt her Tuesday in a first-round victory might be aggravated by playing two straight days. But she concealed the pain she said she still felt, moved well on the court and hit with familiar power and accuracy. Seles sustained the injury while winning a tuneup tournament in Sydney last week.

Tarango was allowed to play in the Australian Open only after apologizing a month ago to the Grand Slam Committee for his behavior and comments at Wimbledon last year. He left in the middle of his third-round match, called the umpire "corrupt" and thanked his wife for slapping the umpire. Sebastien Lareau of Boucherville, the lone Canadian left in singles, advanced today to the second round of doubles as he and partner Alex O'Brien of the United States defeated the American pair of Ken Flach and Kelly Jones 6-4, 6-3. Also advancing to the second round of women's doubles was Patricia Hy-Boulais of Montreal and partner Kerry-Anne Guse of Australia, who defeated Wiltrud Probst and Christina Singer of Germany, versus W0C NFL draft orderD4 adjust. If they play in the afternoon, we might play at night.

"If it's affordable, it will succeed. We don't have to beat them. We've got a plan that works." Kapp played for the Calgary Stam-peders from 1959 to 1901 and the B.C. Lions from 1961 to IMl before heading south to the Minnesota Vikings. He later served as GM of the B.C.

Lions. The proposed league will not have traditional club owners. Instead, all franchises will be owned by the league with players, employees of the league, owning equity in the company. Teams will operate under a balanced budget mandate that links expenses with revenues. Kapp said plans for the league began in December 1993, when CBS lost its battle to retain television rights to NFL games to Fox Sports.

"That was an opportunity," he said. "We put together a plan, a new concept of how to run a league." All-Star Football does not plan on player draft. "We'll get our players from the same place they get their players," Kapp said. The league plans to form its own television network composed of local television stations that have not had an opportunity to carry NFL games. Pack coach improving The Associated Press Dallas Gil Haskell, the Green Bay Packers assistant coach, has made significant improvement after fracturing his skull in a sideline mishap during Sunday's NFC championship game.

"He is still confused, but is conversing and recognizing family members," Dr. Michael Foreman, the trauma surgeon directing Haskell's care at Baylor University Medical Centre, said Tuesday. Haskell, 52, likely will be moved from Baylor's neurological intensive care unit today, Foreman said. Haskell was injured when his head struck the artificial surface at Texas Stadium. TouiU get the results, The' "Journal tamooKM JournaI minor hockey coaches.

It's happened before." Siciliano admitted it had happened to him. Wherever he got his store of information, he turned into a serious success story. Asked why he waited until his 50th year to become a full-time coach, Siciliano pointed out that his close-knit Italian heritage was a big part of his decision. Parents and grandparents were an everyday part of existence in the Thunder Bay area. "Finally, I felt the time was right because I probably had gone as far as I could in my job with the city, but I might not have moved, even at th is stage, if not that the Ice had made a very attractive offer." Chynoweth had fun dealing with reports that several coaches with National Hockey League experience had shown interest in coaching his embryo team.

"We were interested in Perry (Pearn). He's a good man and he has a great record here. Hitch (Ken Hitchcock) was on the list, as some people knew, but he had said all along that his first priority was to move to the NHL, as he did last week with the Dallas Stars." Despite the top-level credentials of Pearn and Hitchcock, Chynoweth found no reason to apologize for Siciliano's record. "He's a winner," said the boss, "and I don't think you can teach coaches to win." Chynoweth made the excellent point that hockey at every level is populated with coaches who are dedicated and well-organized and technically proficient but have trouble creating championships. "We know from Dave's history that he's a teacher," Chynoweth said.

"It will be important to us in the first couple of years because you can be almost sure we won't start with much by way of experienced players in the expansion draft this summer." By all early indications, Siciliano's teaching background will become a major contribution to Edmonton's minor hockey picture, too. Sportsworld With John Short is heard on 790 CFCW Radio from 4:30 to 7 on weekdays and after Edmonton Oilers hockey games. familiar, but else is new. gadgets? it all in Friday's home delivery. A for Wheels, Wheels has been redesigned from the ground up to offer more news and features for car enthusiasts.

Looking for consumer tips on car buying? The top 10 maintenance problems? Driving tips? The latest You'll find Wheels, and more, on cars, UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA TOLLIIVIMLIL motorcycles, trucks, RVs and BIG, BIG trucks. Watch for the new look in the Friday Wheels section starting Jan. 19. The Edmonton "Journal Call 4984500 for FRIDAY JANUARY 19 Pandas 6:30 Bears 8:15 SATURDAY JANUARY 20 Bears 6:30 Pandas 8:15 lit Dave Williamson.